


With You, It Always Felt like Home

by ShowMeAHero



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Babies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Fluff, Happy Ending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Past Abuse, Pregnancy, Reunions, Trans Character, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 03:23:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: Taako makes the hardest decision of his life and he doesn't know why he has to. Magnus has no idea what he's lost. Angus grows up without his family.





	With You, It Always Felt like Home

**Author's Note:**

> The taagnus gc on Twitter told me all about their Angus theories, one of which is exactly the idea that I've written out here, so all credit for that goes to them, because they ruined my life with this and I'm so happy for it.
> 
> The title was taken from ["Wayne and Garth"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOHK6T3y-ks) by Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles.

When Magnus and Taako are on the _Starblaster,_ normal rules don’t apply. Things reset all the time. Magnus doesn’t age like a normal human, for example. He’s over one hundred years old, but he looks no older than twenty. They’ve both died multiple times, but they’re still here, alive. One of the benefits of the system is that they can’t bring humans on board, though. Any life form more complex than a rat just won’t survive the reset. It’s a helpful system for people with vaginas, like Taako, who also have boyfriends who like coming inside their partners, like Magnus. There’s never a baby, because there’s always a reset; no half-elf baby is born within a year, so there’s never anything to deal with.

At first, Magnus was thrilled by that. He was still only young when they started; something like that’s not on his brain all that much. Around the fiftieth cycle, though, he’s starting to get antsy. He doesn’t want to keep going all that much; he wouldn’t mind getting to stop, to settle down somewhere and maybe actually have a family with Taako. He wouldn’t mind at _all,_ actually, but that’s never an option, so he doesn’t entertain it. Taako can tell, though. Magnus mentions it often enough that it’s obvious, but it’s not like he can do anything about it.

So, in the end, the _Starblaster_ is its own form of birth control. They never need to be careful because it’s literally impossible for any baby to ever form beyond, like, cells. And that’s fine. Really. They’re on the move so much anyways, it wouldn’t matter. Their lives were in constant danger. They can’t. They shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter anyways. It’s never real. It never lasts. Such is their stupid fucking life.

During the ninety-ninth cycle, Taako mostly expects things to go how they always go. They’ve got their Grand Relics and the Light is divided and things are okay, until they’re not. Taako expects it all to tank pretty quickly. He also mostly anticipates that, somehow, they’ll end up reset again. He doesn’t put much thought into anything they’re doing, especially after Lup vanishes. He’s mindless when Lup’s gone, because he’s so afraid he’ll never find her again. He spends almost all of his time with Barry. When he’s not with Barry, it’s because Magnus dragged him away, took him to eat something or to meditate.

Sometimes Taako wants to distract himself. Sometimes he turns around in bed, still wrapped up in Magnus’ arms, and kisses him, desperate to think about something that isn’t his sister, his missing sister, his fucking twin sister who’s just gone without a trace. So he lets Magnus hold him close, lets him kiss his neck, lets him hold his curly hair and strip him down and fuck him however he likes in that moment, just so he doesn’t feel so alone. He always has Magnus.

He never even notices. He has no idea that he’s pregnant when Lucretia takes away their memories. Magnus almost suspects, thinks something’s possibly up with Taako, has an idea of what it is, but he can’t ask Taako about it, not in time. And when Lucretia wipes their memories, she can’t take that away, because Taako didn’t even know. He doesn’t find out for himself, so nobody knows. Not him, not Magnus, not even Lucretia, so she can’t take the memory away.

All that just stands to mean that Taako ends up in the middle of the woods, with a caravan, on the open road, and he lives that way for a couple of months before he realizes that something’s wrong. It takes him a little bit longer after that to realize what, exactly, is wrong, and then he’s baffled, because there hasn’t been anybody. He has no idea how the fuck this happened. He has no idea how this baby got there, or whose it is. He tries to figure out if it’s a spell gone wrong, or if he got blackout drunk and forgot something, but he can’t come up with anything.

The only thing Taako does know for sure is that he can’t provide for himself. He’s barely keeping himself alive, and he absolutely can’t take care of a child, too. Not all by himself, not like this; it’s just not going to work. And so he waits, and he searches, until he finds a big old house at the edge of the town he’s been performing in— Always-winter, or Never-something, something like that. When he peeks in the windows, he can see that they’ve got a _lot_ of money. They’ve got a library, and a fancy dining room, and no other kids, so maybe his kid will be an only child, and they’ll be the center of this family’s world, and they’ll be loved and well-taken care of, because that’s really all he wants for them.

So he waits. He stays longer there than he ever has anywhere else, and he waits it out. Eventually, he does have the baby, alone, in the woods, near his caravan, by a river. He bites down on a branch he found to keep himself quiet so nobody finds him, snapping bark under his teeth, and he drags his own baby out of himself, and he washes him in the river. He looks at him, but he doesn’t recognize who he’s supposed to look like. He’s got tan skin and curly auburn hair. He’s covered in freckles, head-to-toe. His features are unfamiliar; Taako can’t see himself in them. He does have, though, Taako’s blue-green eyes and tiny pointed ears.

Taako runs his thumb over the baby’s ear. It’s definitely his baby, not some magical backfire or alien implant or something. He lays the baby on his coat on the ground and curls up around him, rests his head next to his son’s and watches him sleep for a while. He knows what he’s doing is for the best, but he just needs to take a little time, just something to remember, because he may not know how he ended up with this kid, but he did, and he’s still _his_ kid, and he wants to remember him.

He almost doesn’t go back to the big house. Almost. In the end, he knows it’s the best decision he can make, because he couldn’t live with himself if this baby had a horrible life just because he was too selfish to give him up. He goes back to the house with the library and peeks in the window to make sure someone’s home, and then he wraps the baby up in his coat and lays him gently down on the doorstep. He runs his fingers through the baby’s hair, and they look at each other for a long, long moment. Taako almost snatches him up and runs. Almost.

He doesn’t. Instead, he whispers, “I’m sorry,” before he knocks on the door and runs back into the forest. He watches from a distance as someone opens the door and looks down, as they find his baby and call for someone inside the house. A couple of people rush out — another woman, and an older man, and then they look towards the woods, and Taako takes off at a dead sprint. He climbs in his caravan, gets into his bunk, covers his face with his pillow, and screams.

He’s glad that he did it, later. He’s glad when Sazed is beating the shit out of him, that there’s no child there to suffer with him. He’s doubly glad when Glamour Springs happens, that there was no child there to die with the rest of the town, or for Sazed to kill when he tried to kill Taako. When he has to go on the run, he’s glad there’s no kid that he has to hide with him, glad there’s nobody he has to put through the experience, too.

Then he finds Magnus and Merle. He has a purpose again, a mission. He’s protected. He’s making money, and he wishes he could find the kid again, but at this point, it’s been— God, maybe ten years? And the kid’s probably lived a good life with a good family, and it’s not fair for Taako to come back now, so he doesn’t look. He wants to, and he thinks about it every day, but he doesn’t. He wants his son back, but he’s not really his son anymore. He wants to find the house, but he shouldn’t go back.

He shouldn’t.

He’s not.

He doesn’t.

But he never forgets.

* * *

Taako doesn’t want to be around many people, but he wants to be around Magnus. It’s not hard to spend time with him, especially since he’s charming and charismatic and definitely easy on the eyes. Taako mostly wants to climb him like a tree, but something about Magnus keeps him around even after that, even after their relationship gets real physical.

He’s half-paying attention to what they’re doing when they’re doing on the Rockport Limited when he sees a little boy. The kid’s dressed in a fancy little outfit, a nice blue suit, sitting alone at a table in the corner of the train car. He has a book in his hands, but he’s watching them out of the corner of his eye. Merle goes over to the boy first and starts talking to him, and Taako’s staring at him when he realizes why he looks so familiar.

“Magnus,” Taako whispers. “He looks like you.”

Magnus straightens up next to him, looks the kid up and down, then says, “You really think so?”

 _“Dude,”_ Taako says under his breath. The kid looks _just_ like Magnus. He has the same tan skin, the same auburn hair. It’s much curlier, but it’s definitely the exact same shade. His features all look like Magnus’, too. His eyes are the same almond shape, his nose is just as small and round. Even his lips smile like Magnus’ do. Taako can’t stop staring at him. The kid’s eyes are kinda bluish, not like Magnus’ honey eyes, and his ears are pointed, so he’s an elf, or maybe a half-elf, but he definitely looks almost _exactly_ like Magnus.

“Yeah, I guess,” Magnus says. He turns to Taako. “What, do you think he’s, like, my cousin or something? He’s got elf ears.”

Taako shrugs, but then he hears a throat being cleared.

“Excuse me, sirs,” the boy says. Taako and Magnus look down at him at the same time. “My grandpa says it’s rude to whisper, especially on a train.” He grins at them, and looks so much like Magnus when he does it, it’s frightening. “My name’s Angus!”

“Hi, Angus,” Taako replies. He has a weird feeling about the kid that he can’t quite identify. “Hey, where are you from?”

“Me?” Angus asks. “I’m not allowed to say.”

Taako can’t stop looking at him, trying to place him. Maybe he is one of Magnus’ long-lost cousins or something weird like that.

“What’s your last name, Angus?” Magnus asks. Angus keeps smiling up at them, and it’s the same kind of puppy-ish enthusiasm and desire to make friends that Magnus has.

“McDonald,” Angus tells him.

“You got any family from Raven’s Roost, kid?” Magnus asks. Angus shrugs.

“None of my family,” Angus says. “As far as I know.”

“Just that— You look a _lot_ like our buddy here,” Merle says, motioning up to Magnus. Angus shrugs.

“I was adopted,” Angus says. “I don’t know who my real parents are. Maybe we _are_ related, sir!”

“Yeah, maybe,” Magnus comments. “You’re an elf, though.”

“Half-elf,” Angus tells him. Taako can’t stop staring at him, can’t place him, but he already feels attached to him. He doesn’t know why, he just does. Probably because the kid is about the same age his own son would be, and he’s kinda similar to how Taako remembers his own son looking, and so what if he’s projecting a little bit? Nobody needs to know.

* * *

Taako lets himself project on Angus for a while. Maybe too long. Long enough that he starts treating Angus kind of like he _is_ his son. He wants to teach him magic, because it’s clear the kid has a natural affinity for it. Whenever he does spells, he’s got an obvious knack for it, and he takes to Taako’s teaching like a duck to water. He’s almost good at cooking, too, makes Taako some pretty good macaroons, so Taako starts teaching him recipes, too.

So what if he treats Angus like he’s his son? Angus doesn’t seem to have any family who care enough to keep in contact with him. It’s not the end of the world if he takes the kid under his wing or whatever.

Merle doesn’t seem to give a damn about Angus either way, but Magnus cares about him, in a way Taako wasn’t fully expecting. Magnus grows to like him more and more, warms to him and opens up to him and he tries to teach him to defend himself. Angus is better with magic than he is with a knife or an axe, and when he gets hurt it’s Taako who patches him up while he scolds Magnus for letting it happen. Magnus kisses the top of Taako’s head and apologizes, then ruffles Angus’ hair and apologizes to him, too. It makes Taako’s chest warm in a way he doesn’t entirely like or even understand.

Taako wonders, briefly, if he and Magnus will maybe ever— If they’ll settle down, maybe. Or do something stupid like that. He hasn’t thought much about what he wants to do after their work with the Bureau of Balance is over, _if_ it’s ever over, _if_ they actually survive it.

He wonders if Angus would want to go with them, maybe, if they made it out of this thing. He wonders if that’s a stupid thing to wonder, and then he forces himself to stop wondering about it.

After Wonderland, when Taako comes back to the moon base, and he finds Angus, he’s not sure what to expect. He does feel an overwhelming sense of relief when Angus trusts them, when he helps them.

Angus asks them what’s going on, and he says, “Taako, I swear, don’t— don’t lie to me,” and Taako can’t think of anything he wants to do _less._ He wants to protect Angus from whatever’s happening, even though he’s not sure of most of it. He trusts Angus completely, implicitly, and so he tells Angus what they know: that they think the Bureau is a bad thing, what really happened to Magnus, all of it.

At the end of it, Taako says, “Angus, I trust you implicitly and here’s the exact 100% truth as we understand it because if anybody can fuckin’ figure out what’s going on, it’s you.” Angus stares up at him, with those bright eyes of his, and he looks so much like Magnus that Taako’s chest hurts a little. “So. Hook me up.”

Angus tells him everything he knows. He promises he’ll be loyal, and he tells Taako he trusts him, and he talks about how the Director gave him a home, and what he saw her do. Taako wants to take him away from it all, give him a new home, but if Angus goes AWOL, he’s gonna be in a bad position with the Director, which Angus probably doesn’t want.

“You should know something,” Taako tells him, and Angus looks to him, so Taako continues, “If you stick with us, you are… you’re kind of… you’re kind of a bad guy, too. This is not specifically, technically, something we’re supposed to be doing.”

Angus smiles at him, that smile that looks like Magnus’, but still somehow entirely his own, and he replies, “The ones lookin’ for the truth, well, they’re never the bad guys. I know that from my Caleb Cleveland novels.”

Taako watches him go for a second, then says, “Precious,” because he adores him. He follows him, and they make it to the Director’s private quarters, and he drinks from the voidfish’s tank there. He gives his flask to Angus, too, and Angus drinks. Angus is immediately entranced by the baby voidfish. He is only ten, and Taako stares at him, as his brain struggles to start remembering.

When they’re in front of the Director, things start flooding into his mind. He remembers Lup, and the _Starblaster,_ and everything— God, _everything,_ all at once. He remembers Magnus, everything they were, everything they—

And it clicks.

He had a baby, right after the _Starblaster,_ only he didn’t know it was right after the _Starblaster._ He didn’t know he’d been with Magnus.

He had a son, and he didn’t know—

He had—

He was—

He had _Magnus’ son._

Taako chokes on his breath, points the Umbra Staff at Lucretia, and starts counting backwards from ten. His voice cracks, but all he can think about is everything he’s lost. He lost Magnus, and he lost their son, and he lost his sister, and he can’t get any of them back, and it’s _all her fault,_ and he wants to flay her alive for it.

Lucretia tries to explain herself. Taako doesn’t give a shit. Lup is gone, Kravitz is gone, his son is gone. The only person left is Magnus, and Magnus is in the same boat that he is, so Taako just says, “You know, honestly— do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore.”

He _doesn’t_ care. He doesn’t. He’s lost everything, and Lucretia begs him to forgive her, to _understand,_ but how can he _possibly_ understand?

“Lucretia, do you realize that — you remember that Taako just realized he lost his sister,” Magnus says, and Taako realizes, _oh._ Magnus never knew about the baby. How could he, when Taako didn’t know himself? How could anyone have known? Taako’s having his own crisis, but now Magnus is talking to him, and he says, “Taako, listen. I know this is tough but— you found her! Maybe not how you expected to, but when you weren’t looking you found her. That’s the connection— that’s how strong your connection is to Lup. She’s still helping you, you’re still working together! And she wouldn’t want you to give up!”

Taako shakes his head, looks away, staring at the wall. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do. And I’m on board for whatever the plan is. But understand this: I have nothing, and I don’t give a shit. The world is ending, and I. Don't. _Care.”_

Magnus squeezes his shoulder, presses their heads together and then kisses Taako on the top of his head. Taako doesn’t respond. He doesn’t know how to tell Magnus what he’s done. He’s kind of hoping he dies before he has to.

Davenport suggests that they run away, but Taako knows instinctively that there’s no way he can do that. He can’t leave his kid here to die without him, even if he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what the fuck he’s supposed to do, and then Angus speaks up from the door.

“Sirs, please don’t… don’t… don’t go,” Angus calls out to them. Taako turns and looks at him. Angus stares back, pleading, desperate. “Don’t leave us to this. Please.”

Taako can’t stop looking at him. Angus, who looks so much like Magnus. Angus, with his pointed elf ears and his blue-green eyes and his curly hair. Angus, who told Taako when he first met that he was adopted.

Angus.

“You’re ten years old, Ango?” Taako asks, voice breaking, before he can think better of asking. Angus looks completely baffled, but he nods. “Where were you— Where did you live? When you were little?”

“We lived with my grandfather for a while before I lived in Rockport,” Angus tells him. Magnus looks to Taako, confused.

“What’re you—” he starts asking, but Taako holds his hand up, and Magnus’ jaw snaps shut as he falls silent.

“Where’d your grandpa live, pumpkin?” Taako asks. Angus’ brow furrows.

“Neverwinter,” Angus says. “You know this, sir. He’s the one—”

“He had a library,” Taako says. “And a fancy dining room. And his backyard was up against the woods.”

Angus looks so confused. “Did you know him, sir?” he asks. Taako shakes his head.

“Angus, who— Do you know when— Where did your parents adopt you from?” Taako asks. Magnus turns and looks at Angus so fast it looks like he’s gonna pull a muscle. Angus doesn’t look at him, just keeps staring at Taako as the gears start turning in his head, things moving so quickly that Taako can see his expression change minutely as he tries to work it out.

“They found me,” Angus says. “On their front step. Somebody left me there.”

“Angus,” Taako says, choked. He looks to Magnus. “He’s—”

“No,” Magnus cuts him off. “I didn’t—” Magnus looks at Angus, and Taako does, too, because he can’t help _but_ look, look at the face of the son he wanted desperately to keep ten years before, that he could’ve kept if he hadn’t been forced to lose his own memories, to lose Magnus and his whole family.

“I thought something…” Magnus says, trailing off before he stops. “I thought something was wrong,” he tries again, “before we were— Before we left. And I thought, _maybe,_ it was…” Magnus looks at Taako, and Taako covers his mouth with his hands, then takes a step forward. Angus keeps staring at him.

“I didn’t want to,” Taako tells him, because it’s _so_ important that Angus knows that. “I didn’t— I was living in a caravan in the woods. I didn’t know who— I didn’t know why I was having you. I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t have any money and I was scared that you’d get hurt or you’d die and I wouldn’t—” Taako stops, forces himself to take a breath. Angus’ eyes are glassy. “I wanted to keep you. I’ve thought about you every day. I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t be,” Angus says. He looks to Lucretia, and when Taako glances back at her, she’s crying, tears steadily running down her face. Taako looks away from her, because he can’t stand the sight of her face right now. Angus’ eyes dart back to his face, and then he’s running to him, and Taako crouches and opens up his arms and catches him as Angus flings himself into Taako’s chest, hugging him so tightly Taako swears his bones grind together. He never wants to let go of him again. He presses his forehead to Angus’, just like he’d done right after he was born, and exhales shakily.

“I’m so sorry, Angus,” Taako whispers to him again. Angus shakes his head.

“Don’t be,” Angus says. “It’s okay. It’s really okay, I had— My dad really loved me and my grandfather was good to me. You left me with good people, sir, really.”

“I’m sorry,” Magnus says. Angus pulls his face out of Taako’s chest to look up at him, and Magnus pauses for a moment before he reaches out and lays his hand on top of Angus’ head. Angus doesn’t let go of Taako, but he does turn his face so his cheek is on Taako’s chest and he’s looking up at Magnus. Magnus pulls them both in, gets his arms around them and holds them to his chest. “Angus, I’m so— I’m so, _so_ sorry, I didn’t— I didn’t know, or I would’ve—”

The ceiling explodes in a shower of glass before Magnus can complete his thought, and Taako turns his body so he can cover Angus as glass shatters over them, feeling the glass cut his skin as he curves himself over his son, his _son,_ who’s been in front of him this whole time, who Taako couldn’t even _recognize._

They have to fight, they have to beat the Hunger, they have to _win,_ because Taako won’t lose. He _won’t._ He won’t lose anyone again, not as long as he’s alive to stop it.

And then, things happen so quickly, Taako can barely process it all.

He gets Lup back. He breaks the Umbra Staff over his knee and he gets his sister back.

He and Magnus see their perfect future, and Angus is there with them.

Kravitz comes back, and Taako can’t believe he’s this fucking lucky.

Then, though, he and Magnus also have to leave Angus behind, to make sure they can save the world he lives in. Before they leave, Magnus goes to Angus, pulls his grandfather’s knife out of his pocket, hands it to him. He says to Angus, “This has always brought me good luck. Be safe. Bring it back to me, okay?”

Taako’s chest hurts watching them. Angus jumps up to wrap around Magnus, to give him a huge hug, and Magnus tells him to be cool, but Angus just buries his face in Magnus’ chest and says, “I won’t let you down, sir.”

Taako goes to Angus then, too, and he looks over his shoulder at Magnus, just for a moment. Then, he glances back down to Angus. His son, Angus. He has so many things he wants to say, so many things he wants to do, and instead of saying or doing any of them, he says to Angus, “Hey, um, cool knife.” He motions back to Magnus. “You know he has a sword that’s on fire, right? So, just before you get too excited, he did just give you a knife.” Angus smiles, a watery, shaky thing, and Taako pushes a curl of hair out of Angus’ face. His hair is the same shade as Magnus’, but it’s curly like Taako’s, and Taako’s chest seizes. “I just want you to remember, who’s your dude?” Angus laughs tearfully. “Come on, who’s your dude?”

Angus doesn’t answer, but he does grab onto Taako and hug him, a tight embrace as he starts crying, and Taako rubs his back and holds him through it. Before he leaves, he gives Angus his plastic sheriff’s badge, and he’s trying to prolong the inevitable, but, eventually, they have to leave.

When they fly away, Taako can see Lup and Angus below them, two of the four most important people in his life, half of his reason for living so far below him.

Then, they have to come back, and Taako sees Angus again, sees the lights reflected in his glasses, shining in his eyes.

Lup comes to Taako and embraces him as best as she can, and then Angus comes sprinting out of the crowd, running right at them. He barrels into Taako and hugs him as tightly as he possibly can. Angus looks up to Magnus.

“Is it over, sirs?” Angus asks. “Did we win?”

Taako sobs and buries his face in Angus’ hair. He smiles. “You know what, little man? Believe it or not, we did.”

Magnus leans down, lifts Angus up and hoists him onto his shoulder, says, “Let ‘em know, kid.”

Angus grins down at the two of them, then looks out over the crowd. Taako can’t get enough of the two of them together.

Angus calls out over the crowd, “Hey, everybody! Johann was right! We won!”

Magnus swings him down and around, crushes him to his chest before he puts him back on his feet, and Kravitz runs at them and sweeps Taako up into his arms, and Taako’s overwhelmed with how suddenly things have turned around. When Kravitz lets him go, Taako pulls Angus into his side, runs his hand through his hair and smiles.

“You did it, kiddo,” Taako tells him. Angus leans into Taako’s side, takes his hand and holds on.

“We did it together,” Angus says. He tilts his head back. “Are we— Where do we go now? What do we do?”

Taako looks up to Magnus, who’s listening to their whole conversation. Magnus reaches down and ruffles Angus’ hair.

“Whatever you want, little man,” Magnus says. “Anything.”

Angus nods and looks back out over the crowd. “Sounds good.”

“Yeah?” Taako asks.

“Yeah,” Angus repeats. He smiles, and Taako can see Magnus in it, and he’s just so fucking _happy,_ for the first time in a long, _long_ time.

* * *

A year after they defeat the Hunger, they’re at Carey and Killian’s wedding. The ceremony’s already over, and they’re at the reception. Angus is sitting in between Taako and Magnus’ assigned chairs, reading from his big, stupid book. Magnus’ chair is empty, because he’s dancing with Lup out on the dance floor, but Taako’s got his legs up on the back of Angus’ chair as he watches everyone have fun.

“Hey,” Taako says. Angus doesn’t look up, so he nudges the back of Angus’ head with his foot. _“Hey.”_ Angus glances up at him.

“Hi,” Angus replies. “What is it?”

“Quit looking in that book and go have fun,” Taako tells him. Angus glances out at the dance floor, then back.

“I don’t know,” Angus says, skeptical. “I don’t really want to dance with Mavis again.”

Taako snorts a laugh, then drops his feet to the ground. “Well, then, find someone else.”

Angus scans the room, then shrugs.

“Come dance with me, then, kid,” Taako says, standing. Angus looks up at him.

“Reall— Really?” Angus asks. Taako rolls his eyes.

“Yes, _really,_ bubbeleh, c’mon, get up,” Taako says. He holds out a hand, and Angus slips his bookmark back into his book and shuts it, leaving it on the table. He takes Taako’s hand and lets him haul him to his feet. Taako leads Angus to the dance floor, guides him into the dance. He lets Angus lead, and Angus takes to it naturally, grinning up at Taako as they dance.

“I think you’re gonna be as tall as Magnus,” Taako comments. It’s true; Angus is getting taller every day, filling out more than Taako ever anticipated, and someday soon he’s gonna be much, much taller than Taako. Angus laughs.

“Maybe someday,” Angus says. “I don’t think I’ll ever be as big as Dad.”

“Well, maybe,” Taako says. “Remember, magic is the real power, pumpkin. Don’t let Magnus tell you otherwise.”

“I know,” Angus says. He loses his footing, and Taako helps him get it back. It only lasts for a moment, though, before Magnus sweeps him up and spins him around in the air as Angus shrieks in surprise.

“You’re doing a horrible job,” Magnus tells him, as he lands Angus on his shoulders. “Who the fuck taught you how to dance?”

“Dad did,” Angus says. Taako flicks his knee.

“Don’t throw me under the fucking bus, you should’ve paid more attention when I was showing you,” Taako scolds him. Angus kicks his leg out at him and bumps Taako’s shoulder, and Magnus pretends to drop him, catching him at the last second and setting him on his feet. He yanks Angus into a headlock and ruffles his hair. “Alright, let him go, do you know how much time it took me to get his fucking hair to stay flat like that? Jesus.”

“He gets it from you,” Magnus reminds him. Angus squirms out of his headlock and fires _Mage Hand_ at him, lightly knocking Magnus back, and Taako laughs, pulling Angus back into his side.

“Good work, you’ve got it almost perfect,” Taako tells him. “There’s always room for improvement.”

“It _was_ perfect,” Angus says. Taako pulls Angus’ head in and kisses the crown of it. Magnus picks Angus up and puts him on his feet, holding him up carefully.

“Let me show you how to really fucking dance,” Magnus says, and he starts stepping carefully, showing Angus the steps to the dance, and Taako retreats, watching them both together, and he finally feels satisfied, like the final pieces of his life have slotted back into place after so long of being missing and jagged and fucked up. He can see Lup dancing with Lucretia, and Kravitz sitting and talking with Barry, and he’s finally fucking _happy._

That night, Angus falls asleep sprawled across some chairs at their table, and Magnus hoists him up to take him home. Taako is the one who tucks his covers around him once he’s in bed, who makes sure he’s comfortable before getting up to leave. For a moment, though, he stops, looks down at Angus as he sleeps soundly in his bed. After a moment of hesitation, Taako climbs into his bed with him, curls up around him and rests his head next to Angus’. He watches him sleep for a while, rubs his thumb up Angus’ ear and over the point of it, and just lets the moment settle over him.

**Author's Note:**

> I also actually wrote two books! It was a long road but, I did it! Ta-da! If you want to read either of them, shoot me a message!
> 
> I have a blog now to request imagines - I just like to make people happy. Submit requests [here!](https://imagine-in-the-fandoms.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicolelianesolo](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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